2010 Year of the Tiger | Predictions and Forecast

It is during this time of the year that Fengshui experts are normally issuing their predictions and forecasts for the coming year.

The year 2010 is the Year of the Tiger according to Chinese horoscope.

I was born in the Year of the Dragon and if these Fengshui experts are to be believed, the year 2010 will be ideal to enroll in any program or some form of school for those born in the Year of the Dragon. But I'm not really into horoscope and I never consider these predictions and forecasts.

Life is what you make it!

Manila Zoo Revisited

Pia and I visited Manila Zoo again yesterday. If I remember it right, it's her third visit. She was only three years old when she first went there. That was three years ago.



Although there are some improvements in Manila Zoo, it is still in a sorry state as a whole. That's partly because of the zoo visitors' lack of discipline. For example, there's a wishing pond there with lots of garbage. You get my drift.



One improvement I saw is Kinder Zoo corner inside the Manila Zoo premises, where you can take unlimited pictures with a huge snake, baby crocodile and different kind of birds. There's also a mini zip line and wall climbing area for kids.



To enter the Kinder Zoo, you need to pay another P40 entrance fee and additional P75 if you want to try their zip line and wall climbing. That's on top of the P40 you need to pay to enter the zoo. I could be wrong but I smell some irregularities there.



Another new activity to try at Manila Zoo is the horseback riding. It will cost you only P60.



I'm not sure what this guy is doing with the crocodile but he sure became an instant attraction for the zoo visitors.

To see more pictures of our Manila Zoo visit yesterday, you may go to my Multiply Account.

2009 Metro Manila Film Festival Results| MMFF Winners

Here's the 35th Metro Manila Film Festival Results or the 2009 MMFF Winners for the major award categories:

Best Director: Joel Lamangan (Mano Po 6)

Gatpuno Antonio Villegas Cultural Award: Mano Po 6

Best Supporting Actress: Heart Evangelista (Mano Po 6)

Best Supporting Actor: Phillip Salvador (Panday)

Best Actor: Bong Revilla (Panday)

Best Actress: Sharon Cuneta (Mano Po 6)

3rd Best Festival Picture: Ang Darling Kong Aswang

2nd Best Festival Picture: I Love You Goodbye

Best Picture: Ang Panday

Best Production Design: Ang Panday

Best Visual Effects: Ang Panday

Best Theme Song: Ang Panday

Best Child Performer: Robert Villar (Ang Panday)

Congratulations to all the 2009 MMFF Winners!

Pictures: 2009 Disney on Ice at Araneta Coliseum

Using my simple point-and-shoot digital camera, here are some pictures I've taken tonight during the 2009 Disney on Ice presentation at Araneta Coliseum.

Goofy with the gang on a jungle cruise

Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse


Pia got a new Disney on Ice toy

Pia and Setsu all smiles

Dinner at Dencio's after the show

Pia really enjoyed the show and I'd say the Google money I've spent is worth it. More 2009 Disney on Ice pictures at my multiply account.

New Years Clipart

New Years Clipart from http://hubpages.com

Here are some sites where you will find New Years Clipart that you may use in sending New Year's greetings to your friends, office mates and families. You can also use these new year's clipart for your new year's party decorations.

http://www.designedtoat.com/newyears.shtml

http://hubpages.com/hub/free-new-years-clip-art

http://webclipart.about.com/od/msub69aa/New_Years_Clip_Art_Links.htm

Please feel free to leave your comments if you want to add more sites with free new years clipart.

Happy new year!

Coin bank for Daniel

For quite a time now, I have been maintaining a coin bank, where I drop P10-coin every time I have one. And whenever Pia is in Makati for her vacation, that's the time that we open the coin bank, count the coins together and then go to the bank to deposit the accumulated coins to her savings account.



When I learned about Daniel (a 5 months old baby who needs to undergo a liver transplant) few moths ago, I told Pia about his condition and we agreed that we will deposit half of the savings to Daniel's account to help on his operation.

The last news I heard about Daniel is that the operation is scheduled early next year and that they are still short for the P3M needed for the operation to be done at a hospital in Taiwan.

Pia is now here in Makati for her Christmas vacation and we have already opened the coin bank. But a day before we're scheduled to make the deposit to Daniel's bank account, I received an SMS from my friend Niko. She said Daniel is gone. Pia was really sad when I told her about it.

We deposited the coins just the same to Daniel's account hoping it will at least help for the funeral expenses.

Farewell, Daniel...

Pia Won Math and Science Quiz Bee

During the Education Week Celebration last week at Pia's school, she participated in the Quiz Bee for Spelling, Math and Science. She lost in the Spelling but she was the Champion both in Science and Math! She brought home two medals!



No,she doesn't have an online math tutor,in case you're wondering. :-) She gets her math help from her great grandmother, who is a retired public school teacher.

Pia is currently enrolled in Prep School. Next school year, she will be in elementary school and soon, she she will be encountering more complex math problems. Eventually, she will be needing more math help.

Have you guys tried online math tutoring for your kids? How was it? Will you recommend it?

Math is Pia's favorite subject and she's really good at it. Hopefully, she won't lost the interest and eventually join the Philippine Math Olympiad. That will really make me a proud daddy! :-)

Mundu IM for Palm Treo 680

I've been using Mundu IM messenger for a week now and I'm enjoying it. Now, I can chat with my friends and clients using my Palm Treo 680 at a cheaper cost. SMS for Yahoo costs P2.50/message. But with Mundu IM, I just have to pay P10 for every 30 minutes that I'm connected with SMART GPRS and I no longer have to pay P2.50 per message!

Mundu IM Features:

Interoperability between all popular public IM services:: mundu IM V4 makes all your contacts from Yahoo, ICQ, AIM , MSN, Gtalk & Jabber available to you under a single interface.

Cross Conferencing:: Invite friends, colleagues or clients across AOL, Yahoo and MSN to conference within a single chat window.

Photo Sharing:: Share photos taken from your camera phone with friends and colleagues.

File Transfer:: Transfer files from your mobile device to friends and colleagues.

Email Notifications:: Receive email notifications for your Yahoo, MSN or Google Talk accounts on the move.

Smart Group Management:: Manage your groups for each IM service and simplify your chatting experience.

Multi-lingual Chat:: Chat with your contacts in European languages.

Expressive Chat :: Customize the color and style of your chat text and have the option to set customizable presence status across IM services.

Background Mode Support:: Stay connected on IM while you are on the phone or accessing other phone functions.

Message Archiving and Chat History:: Save your important chat conversations and view them later.

Mundu IM's normal price is US$11 but is on sale for only US$3. Click here for more information.

2TwitMe for my Palm Treo 680

I have just installed 2TwitMe, a full featured Twitter client for Palm OS 5 and above. Except for the registration problem that I encountered, 2TwitMe works perfectly with my Palm Treo 680. I just hope that they reply soon to the support ticket that I've just sent.

2TwitMe is now on sale at Palm Infocenter for only US$3.95. If you want this twitter client for your Palm Smartphone, you have until December 15 to avail of the promo.

Here's a comprehensive review about 2TwitMe. Tweeting using my Palm Treo 680 is now made easy! No need to open a browser to access the Twitter mobile version.

To buy your 2TwitMe license, click here.

Traffic from 'Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt' Search

I have just checked my Google Analytics report for this blog and I found out that I'm getting a fair share of search traffic from Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt' keyword search.



I've been boycotting Nestle products for quite a time now. When Nestle used blogging to promote Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt, I tried to optimize that keyword with the end in view of exposing the condition of Nestle Workers, of the murder Ka Ding Fortuna.

Looks like I succeeded.

Because I blocked Nestle Ads from my Adsense account, I'm not making any money from the searh traffic generated by that post. But that's ok! Money isn't everything. ;-)

Trailer: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

While searching the net for interesting movies expected to be shown next year, I chanced upon this movie trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Movie Trailer

I've read Book 7 of Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) two years ago. I hope the movie captures all the actions in Book 7. This, I think, will become the best Harry Potter movie.

Aside from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I'm also excited to see AVATAR: The Last Airbender.

I found Nemo!

When I saw this Nemo stuffed toy being displayed in one those stores at Coastal Mall, I thought of Pia and decided to buy one. 'Finding Nemo' is one of her favorite movies.

The sales lady initially priced it at P580 but I was able to get it for only P400. :-)




If you have kids who also like Nemo, this will be a great Christmas gift. But if your kids are into hamster, Zhu Zhu Pets would be perfect.

Profile: Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Here's the profile of Floyd Mayweather Jr., the next opponent of Manny Pacquiao scheduled on March 2010.



Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather Jr boasts of 38 wins - 0 loss with 24 KOs.

Fast Facts about Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Age: 28

Born: February 24, 1977

Resides in Las Vegas, Nevada

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Height: 5' 8"

Reach: 72"

Trained by Roger Mayweather (Uncle)

Career Highlights of Floyd Mayweather Jr.

World championship fights: 14 - 0

WBC Super Lightweight World Champion

Ranked The Ring #1 Pound for Pound

Former WBC lightweight world champion, three successful defenses

Former WBC super featherweight world champion, eight successful defenses

World Boxing Council "2005 Fighter of the Year"

1996 Olympic Bronze Medalist, 125 Lbs.

Five-time U.S. National Amateur Champion

Professional debut at age 19 in 1996

Personal and Amateur Background of Floyd Mayweather Jr.

1996 Olympic Bronze Medalist, 125 Lbs

1996 National Golden Gloves Champion, 125 Lbs

1996 Michigan State Golden Gloves Champion, 125 Lbs

1995 U.S. National Champion, 125 Lbs

1995 National PAL Champion, 125 Lbs; Outstanding Boxer award

1994 National Golden Gloves Champion,; Outstanding Boxer Award

1994 Michigan State Golden Gloves champion, 112 Lbs

1993 National Golden Gloves Champion, 106 Lbs

1993 Michigan State Golden Gloves Champion, 106 Lbs

1996 Olympics, 125 pounds in his first fight in July 1996, he stopped Bakhtiyar Tileganov of Kazakhstan at 0:57 of the 2nd round. In his 2nd fight in July 1996, he won a 16-3 decision against Artur Gevorgyan of Armenia. In the quarter finals in July 1996, Mayweather won a 16-3 decision against Lorenzo Aragon of Cuba, becoming the first U.S. boxer to defeat a Cuban in 20 years. In the semi finals in August 1996, he lost a very controversial 10-9 decision, which the U.S. team protested against Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria.

Started boxing at age 7

Reportedly had 90 amateur bouts (84-6).

Son of former contender Floyd Mayweather, Sr. and the nephew of former two-time world champion, Roger Mayweather and former contender Jeff Mayweather

Regarding his nickname, Mayweather said, "I got that name not because of my looks, but because when my fights finished, I never came out cut or bruised. My amateur teammates gave me the name."

Floyd Mayweather Jr's Strengths

Most talented fighter in the ring today

One of the hardest working in the gym

Exceptional skills, speed, movement and defense

Great natural athletic ability

Good instincts in the ring

Accurate combination puncher with excellent handspeed and good power in both hands

Strong amateur background

Comes from a strong family boxing tradition

More information about Floyd Mayweather Jr. from http://www.canadastarboxing.com

S&R New York Style Pizza

A client brought us 2 boxes of S&R New York Style Pizza and ice cream this afternoon when he visited the office to pick up his Canadian Permanent Resident Visa, which was just delivered yesterday.


S&R Pizza slices are so huge that I was able to eat only two slices. I think I have to skip dinner tonight.


And because of our little pizza party, the girls suddenly forgot their diet. After tasting this S&R New York Style Pizza, I'm sure they will no longer even look at Hawaiian pizza. :-)


After tasting these S&R New York Style Pizzas, I now want to have S&R membership card too!

Kabunian-Tenglawan Year end Climb!

The year 2009 is almost over and I realized that I never had any mountaineering activity this year. The last mountain I climbed was Mt. Pulag two years ago.

The Kabunian-Tenglawan climb (Dec 26-30) that my cousin, Deng, is organizing would have been perfect. Hhowever, we're scheduled to watch Disney on Ice on the 26th of December. Sayang!

Mt. Tenglawan image courtesy of http://jplamyr.multiply.com

Anyway, if you're interested to join, here's the itinerary.

Mt.Kabunian – Mt.Tenglawan
Bakun ,Benguet
December 26 - 30, 2009

December 26 - 9pm -Meet up @ Jollibee Cubao Farmers near MRT station. 10pm – Etd cubao – Baguio

December 27 - Trek to Mt.Kabunian

December 28 - Trek to Mt.Kabunian

December 29 - Trek to Mt.Tenglawan (Dayhike)

December 30

5:00am wakeup call/eat breakfast/shower
7:00am Etd Bakun to Baguio
1:00pm – Eta Baguio Lunch, OPEN IT ,Stroll ,buy Pasalubong
4:00pm – Etd baguio to Cubao
9:00pm –Eta Cubao

Detailed itinerary will be discussed during the pre-climb meeting on Dec 16 at EDSA Shangrila food court (near Henlin).

Budget for the climb:

P3000 pesos inclusive of the following:
- Private van to baguio
- Private 4x4 jeep baguio to bakun
- Local Guide fee, Brgy registration and permits
- Registration fee is 1,500 non refundable but transferable


Contact @ Deng: 09183177950/ 0922-8394236
Ymid: sinned_deng

For Mt. Kabunian – Mt. Tenglawan photos click here

Where is Eddie Gil?

According to Commission on Philippine Elections (Comelec), there were 99 candidates who filed their Certificate of Candidacy (COC) to run as Presedent of the Philippines.



Where is Eddie Gil? Did he file his COC, too? If he did, I will have a hard time making a decision who to vote for the Philippines 2010 Election. Will it be Eddie Gil or the Emperor of the World?